Software Bug Is Behind Etsy Card Reader Meltdown

Etsy provided an update about the meltdown of its payment-processing card reader, much to the relief of sellers who had been anxiously wondering if a week’s worth of in-person transactions could ever be recovered.

Etsy spokesperson Nikki Summer pointed EcommerceBytes to a post on the company’s discussion boards and said sellers who were affected by the problem would be receiving those funds.

Summer also said the problem was with software, not the card reader itself. “As noted in our forums post, this is not a problem with the reader; the reader is secure. This is a bug affecting the Sell on Etsy app for Android.”

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As we reported on Monday, some sellers said the Etsy card readers they used to process in-person payments last week had wiped out their transactions, and it wasn’t clear if they would be able to recover the funds that were supposed to be deposited into their accounts – or if they would be able to recover the records that identified transaction details including customer names and product information.

In her post on the discussion board Tuesday afternoon, Etsy’s Marie Kelly described the problem as an intermittent bug. She said some sellers would begin to see funds posted to their account that day (Tuesday).

And she said an updated version of the software app was scheduled to be released on Thursday.

However, with regard to sellers being able to recover the records of all transactions, Etsy’s Summer said, “We are doing our best to restore as much as possible in addition to ensuring they receive their funds. We’ll be reaching out to affected sellers with more details, and of course, sellers with concerns can contact us at support@etsy.com. We know how important this is to Etsy sellers, and we’re committed to resolving this in as timely and effective a fashion as possible.”

The full text of Kelly’s post from 4:25 pm on May 5, 2015 follows:

As some of you have reported, the Sell on Etsy app for Android is not recording sales for some in-person transactions.

We are aware of this bug and are urgently working on fixing it. From what we understand, the issue is intermittent and affecting only some sellers using the Sell on Etsy app for Android to process in-person sales. The issue is not related to the Sell on Etsy card reader, which uses industry-standard data encryption and is secure. The Sell on Etsy app for Apple iOS devices has not been affected.

Please know that sellers who may have been affected by this issue will receive the funds for those sales. Some of you will begin to see affected transactions and funds post to your Shop Payment Account today. If you believe you’ve encountered this issue, please write to support@etsy.com and a member of our support team will address your questions and concerns. We’ll also be contacting all affected sellers directly with more information about receiving funds from affected transactions.

An updated version of the Sell on Etsy Android app that addresses this issue will be released in the Google Play store by Thursday. Please be sure to update your Sell on Etsy app at that time.

We know how crucial it is to have your transactions accurately recorded, and we’re sorry for any inconvenience or concern. We take all payments issues very seriously, as we know how important your Etsy shop is to your creative business.